Comments

Comment by kane

This looks really good. I don't think I would use this much maybe stuff like drak when ur kitting him and such. It would work well in pvp I'm sure against any mage or caster. a Warrior or Paladin would not be to bad also. The rest do to much DPS it would become useless fast.

Comment by tman191

I'm still a level 67 nubsauce and i was wondering if you could use this on your pet.

Comment by shinji1234567

Yes, you can.

Comment by Eggy

Excellent for pulling and for keeping your DPS up on Aggro-sensitive fights while giving the MT a little boost in his Aggro.

Comment by killerchong

is this ability only useable on pets, and players in parties/raids only?

im thinking the next time someone kill steals me or jacks a vein/chest from me i shoot this on em and aggro mobs onto them to kill em lol

This will only set your Misdirection target if it's friendly (so as to avoid messups with hitting your alt modifier on a hostile target), and doesn't target then go back, as if you are on your misdirection target to begin with, your targetlasttarget will go back to something you were on earlier (since you didn't change targets at all)

Comment by Kargg

Ah good to know, I will change my macro.

Another note to add for Misdirection:

Volley and Traps do NOT count against your charges. Ideal setup for Misdirection (for a group of mobs) you could: Use Misdirection, Explosive Trap, Volley, Multishot, Arcane, and Distracting.

Comment by Mentos

Can you Misdirect then Dsengage, Disengage, Disengage?

Comment by AkeonStar

erm. another Clarification, multi shot counts at 3 charges (if you are shotting at 3 targets) which is nice during raids, you misdirect onto the tank, let say even on a 2 mob pull, the distracting and multi, works out very nicely

Comment by Zeshar

I've found that if there is a pack of linked mobs then you only need to shoot one for all of them to chase down your misdirected target. It will still be up to your tank to generate threat on the additional targets, but this will prevent you from wasting charges on multi-shot.

Beware that this won't work on double-linked packs of mobs -- pulls where there are two sets of grouped up mobs that come at the same time. The first group will go towards the misdirected target, but any additional groups will come for you.

Comment by Izzy

For those wondering, in 2.1.2 - fixed bug with Misdirection where sometimes only two attacks were redirected instead of three.

Comment by zinc

PTR 2.2 Patch notesVolley: This spell is now affected by area damage caps. Its bonus damage coefficients have also been increased. It also correctly consumes charges of Misdirection.

Comment by PussTear

can you misdirect a person of the opposite faction?like if he jumps you, you misdirect him and smack the nearest mob.elite mob where possible.

Comment by Ghash

No, interesting idea, but Misdirection can only be cast on friendly targets.

Comment by Splas

But u can still use it on a ninja looter ;)

Comment by Ownrer

Little Ganking Note :

You can cast MD on a mindcontrolled opposite faction player... but the best part is... if you don't use the 3 charges during the mindcontrol, when MC wears off / is dispelled, the MD still works perfectly on your next 3 shots (within 30sec ofc)...

Now think about doing it on elemental plateau, on someone you just nuked down to 10-15%... Once you have MCed and MDed him, get a few yards away, give him some time to unzoom and start thinking of an extra smart strategy, and the second he attempts that smart move send 3 raging fire souls on him... coupled with a hit of gobelin rocket launcher and 3g repair because he died of a mob... EVIL!!! and very, very good laugh irl that is!

PS: Do it naked with your favorite ridiculous helm and an enchanted fishing pole

Comment by jasonmoore2k

Where do hunters learn MC?

Comment by Xtremekiller

For best effects use Aimed Shot then Multi Shot as even with one charge left all three shots of Multi Shot count. You could try to weave an arcane shot in there but you may auto by accident before you cast the multi.

Comment by Zeshar

Nice idea, but since Misdirection is technically a buff it can be cancelled by right-clicking on it.

Comment by ZookCloak

A neat idea, but Multi-Shot actually has a 0.5 second cast time (Even though it doesn't show a castbar), so it can't be cast while moving. You could stop moving and immediately start multi-shot, but I wouldn't want to risk an auto-shot sneaking its way in there and screwing up the pull. :x

Comment by 2OfDiamonds

i assume everyone knows you can gank beggars with this?

invite them to grp, set 'at war' with some faction in the town you are in (cenarion dude in org near flight tower) MD on lowbie beggar, fire distracting shot on dude.

watch the fun, if they are not a rogue they will not survive (sprint, sometimes).

really REALLY worth doing.

Comment by Cyphaze

This seems like a hilarious way to get revenge on that cloth-wearing guildie you hate

Comment by Tankadin

This could also be used while kiting after you do your distance or you've finished ur task then you could misdirect it to the next player and send them on their way

Comment by Argus9

If your target right-clicks to remove the Misdirect buff, will it cancel on your character as well?

Comment by Nameme

Yes. If your target removes the buff, the buff is removed from you as well.

Comment by dankone

Not only for raiding/5 manning!

Use this to cleanse Orgrimmar or Ironforge of those annoying low levels who bother you for gold or a gold spammer dumb enough to accept an invite.

1) Go to the Flight Master tower (the base of it) or to the Gryphon Master

2) Declare war on CC

3) Invite lowbie to group

4) Cast Misdirection on him

5) Attack the CC representative

6) ???

7) Dead pest.

Comment by Thunderhoof

Little Note: You can´t MD on a mounted target

Comment by Pyroshen

If the person right clicks it off it is as if it was never there at all (as in YOU get your own aggro from shots)

Our tank did this in karazhan the other day and we had a giggle.

Comment by 2OfDiamonds

replying to myself, dont think this trick works anymore..

tried it twice a couple weeks ago, and i got the aggro, now this isnt anything to worry about, i can kill the dude, but it doesnt chase the lowbie anymore as far as i could tell.

can anyone verify this?

Comment by cosmonaut

Only reason hunters are brought to groups.

Comment by luckyllama

Another easy way of using this would be using a mod like Clique... it casts spells by clicking on a unit frame (the person's box in your raid/group). That way you aren't losing your target and you don't have to keep up with the macro.

Good for those of us who use Clique for healing on other characters.

Comment by cosmonaut

lol @ butthurt huntards downranking my comment

Comment by tlanwarrior

The best thing to do with MD...

A friend of mine last night, decided after I suicide Curator (Just finished Opera, and was bored); He decided to MD to the MT (Who we were having very big issues with), and then pulled Curator, and then immediately FD'd.

Comment by Groundlord

Tanks, you can stop griping about Hunters wanting to pull. Even though Hunters are the best pullers (WHY do we have to keep trying to prove it to all the tanks?), this ability throws out all of the "tanks should pull so they have aggro from the start" crap. We already had Disengage and Feign Death to throw all the aggro on you when we pulled; are you happy now that all the pulling threat's going to be on you?

Sucks that you can't get it until level 70...

Comment by Valfar

Misdirection will no longer work on low level players. I'm not sure what the level requirement is, but it did not work on a level 15 warrior on July 25th, 2008.

Comment by november

What I have found to work very, very well for avoiding Auto Shot is this:

Simply attack the target with your melee attack, even though you are too far away to hit. As long as your Melee attack is active, you will not Auto Shoot, so you can fire any three special shots at will.

Edit: I don't know why the "Please note" I put in when I first posted this is gone, but I'll just put it in again:

You MUST use your Raptor Strike to do so, NOT your regular Melee strike. Your normal melee strike will return you to AutoShot, while Raptor Strike will keep you in melee.MultiShot will also return you to Autoshot, but the other special shots, i.e. Arcane Shot, Concussive Shot, and all Stings, will keep you in Melee.

Edit 2: This strategy does not work any longer. Since Patch 2.4., taking a melee action out of range of the target (either normal attack or Raptor Strike) will automatically take you to Autoshot. So far, I have not found a way to keep up your melee stance.

Comment by prosk8r712

imo, this is best in AV for when no one wants to pull drek/van. Just MD a random plate wearer and watch the magic.

Comment by wayfarer86

MD For AoE Packs!

1. Cast MD on you intended Tank.

2. Cast Volley on top of the Pack. (This does not waste MD Charges)

3. Lay explosive Trap at Tanks feet once they are intended tanking spot.

4. Quietly congratulate yourself as the mage thanks the healer & tank instead of you for keeping him alive while he AoE'd.

Comment by soler58

This is being changed in wrath 2 a cd of 30 sec :)

Comment by romanandre

You can if a Priest mcs the target, but I'm almost sure the threat will go to the Priest.

Comment by toolio

Your statement is a bit confusing. In simple terms, the cooldown timer on this spell is being reduced to 30 seconds.

Comment by Immaterial

If only more hunters did this :)

Comment by xdirtyboots

Could you use Misdirection to pull, say, a city boss like Sylvanas out of her thrown room and into the sewers?

My friend and I had a plan to MD the tank, make it to the throne room in 30 seconds, then pull. Just wondering if a mob would go that far or if you could accomplish this by having multiple misdirects.

Comment by Interest

Actually, Volley will consume charges, but it doesn't matter how many targets Volley hits, as it will generate all the threat to the Misdirected target. However, after three or more targets are hit by Misdirection, the buff will fade.

In general, this means that on a huge aoe pull, the first tick of Volley will give threat to the MD'd tank.

This spell is also good when used in conjunction with Explosive Trap.

Comment by Groundlord

Sadly, this no longer works with Distracting Shot (possibly since it now works as a Taunt-like effect instead of just causing a lot of threat).

Oh, and one more thing:*Points* "He did it!"

Comment by LockeZ

You know how, if you make a mob run far enough without doing more damage to it midway, it will reset? Misdirect doesn't change that at all.

Comment by ithinktfiam

I'm a confused noob. I had someone ask me about this on a raid this week. I don't see that I have it, though i'm lvl 67 and buy every training item i see. When do you get it, how do you get it and, if I have it, where's it hiding in the spell book?

Comment by honnou

At the very top of this page, in the Quick Notes, it says that this skill requires level 70. So you would pick it up from your trainer then. :)

Comment by kaimoku

Feel free do rate me down if I'm wrong, but i thought before patch 3.0.8 Misdirection wasn't on the GCD. But now it is. I didn't read anything about this in the patch notes. Is this intended or a bug? Or do I just not play my hunter enough to notice that it's always been on the GCD?

Comment by CursedLight

Explosive shot will consume all 3 charges. 1 for the initial hit, and then twice more for each additional tick of the DoT.

Comment by ryzwarrior

i find using this macro very useful

/target (pets name )/cast misdirection/targetlasttargetvery useful while soloing and always can be changed 2 MT

Comment by Poultron

However, to my knowledge, none of them will correctly misdirect threat.

Comment by Hurono

Little trick I've learned. Explosive Trap's intitial damage consumes a single charge of MD. The DoT does not, as of Patch 3.0.9 (Not using 80 rank, so not sure if this is a bug or not). =P

Comment by sanityangel

"Have you ever heard of Harry Houdini? Well he wasn't like today's magicians who are only interested in television ratings. He was an artist. He could make an elephant disappear in the middle of a theater filled with people, and do you know how he did that? Misdirection. What the eye's see, and the ears hear, the mind believes."-Gabriel, Swordfish.

Comment by leojulius13

How does this work with serpent sting and black arrow? does it only take the aggro from the hit or from the entire dot effect?

Comment by BEpally

Me and a guildy had a little fun with this today. We invited random gold spammers to a group, and misdirected the Cenarion Circle dude in Org to them and watch them die.

We discovered the cure to gold sellers.

Comment by elitearthas

The other way is to keep moving =DAutoshot cant shoot if your on the move so run in spam an instant shot then turn around and do 2 jump shots of another 2 instant shots as you run to assigned/chosen position to setup camp haha

/rofl at the twit who downranked me

anyway, in wotlk, best bet for 'max threat' would probably be AimedS, *jump/disengage, ArcaneS, *jump, MS. Seriously depends on if you really need to reposition or not... usually i just MD, SS, CS, *auto*, AS, CDs (Rapid fire + Readiness + Call of the wild + Furious Howl), rinse and repeat rofl

Comment by MihaiLung

Or even better. You know that 10 years old that yells "TAKE TOWeRS< U NOOBZ!1!1" for the duration of the whole BG and that annoyes you and your whole raid?

Comment by Gruneun

Another problem is that by inviting them to a group, you may be leaking you account details to them

No, you are giving absolutely zero account info to anyone by grouping with them.

Comment by jfughuf

Question: If you cast Misdirect on a target, and then attack something with Distracting Shot, will it attack you or the target that you cast Misdirect on?

Comment by Ishawak

To answer your question, from an earlier reply:

"Sadly, this no longer works with Distracting Shot (possibly since it now works as a Taunt-like effect instead of just causing a lot of threat)."

Comment by cipdeath

Did u perhaps try and read the upper right side of this web page?"Quick FactsRequires level 70..."Reading is cool, right?

Comment by Rattja

I did some testing with this just now, on how it responds to dot's. It does use one charge and direct all the threat from that dot to the target.HOWEVER...and this is kind of important for all you survival hunters out there. Explosive shot acts different, it counts the main shot as one, then the first and second damaging part as shots. This meaning that one Explosive shot will eat the entire misdirection, and the last tick will not count. Put simple, it treats the explosive shot as 4 attacks.Not sure if this is intended, but it means that you should use something else.

Comment by Daiwan1

To learn this spell you need to be level 70 I'm afraid.

Comment by Nidaldina

For any of the above hated clothies, etc, the easiest way to survive these tactics is a little line I like to put on all my non-tanking attack macros: /cancelaura Misdirection

Comment by Nidaldina

For any of the above hated clothies, etc, the easiest way to survive these tactics is a little line I like to put on all my non-tanking attack macros: /cancelaura Misdirection

Comment by Ohforf

3.3.0 notes

Misdirection: Redesigned. Instead of having finite charges, it now begins a 4-second timer when the hunter using Misdirection performs a threat-generating attack, during which all threat generated by the hunter goes to the friendly target. In addition, multiple hunters can now misdirect threat to the same friendly target simultaneously.

This was more than needed. Finally!

Comment by t2teddy

Right, I just got Misdirection and can't figure out how to make it work. Yes, I'm a noob. Please don't make fun of that. :(Am I supposed to target something/somebody, hit the misdirect button and then attack another mob? Which sends the mob at the player/mob/pet that has misdirection cast on it...right? ... *sigh*I can't seem to get it to work in solo play.

Comment by Lmjkdd6

You learn it at level 70.

Comment by EtaCarina

Misdirection has 3 steps:- Target your tank (or your pet)- Cast Misdirection. This will give the Misdirection Buff to you and your tank. - Attack target. As long as the buff is active, threat from your attacks will go to the tank.

Comment by Kaylthas

I thought Tricks of the trade was a copy of this skill until i actually read the tooltip.

TotT is much much better than this as far as misdirecting goes.

Only 3 attacks every 30 secs is worthless compared to 33% uptime.

No wonder hunters have bad aggro management, this skill needs to be buffed.

Comment by catbeef

Check the patch version when this was posted, Misdirection Volley used to be the best thing in the world for getting every mob in an entire dungeon attacking the tank, as it did indeed not consume any charges.

Of course, with the soon to appear 3.3, Misdirection Volley is somewhat possible again! Huzzah.

Side note: bring back the short lived 2.3 volley graphics! (damn you 2.3.2!)

Comment by ThiefMaster

Your tanks probably fail if you pull aggro without using MD more than once.Usually using MD at the beginning and them maybe a FD after a few seconds - and depending on the fight once again later - should be enough not to pull aggro.

Comment by Onijitsu

Agreed. I was PUGging last night, and the Hunter in the bunch had nothing but contempt for the tank. Sure, they were a new tank, and their biggest problem was that they were not yet geared with tanking gear. (which, is no mean feat) But instead of dropping a hailstorm of criticism, and then dumping the group mid-dungeon, the guy could have been using Misdirect. (Which is actually the reason I came here: to research up on it a little further)

That isn't to criticize Hunters in general. I wish I had this ability. I just wish that I saw more Hunters using it to help the team, when I'm out 'n about with them. Sure, it may reduce your uber-DPS score in Recount, but if it makes for a successful raid, I'm all for it.

Similarly, I've taken to standing by the main healer. Just in case something aggros against them, I can suck'em onto me and then bounce them off with Death Coil or something. Just long enough to let the Tank regain aggro, and to allow the Healer to keep doing the job they're intended for. If I had Misdirect, I'd be in an even better place. Seems like we ought to... After all, Warlocks are conniving, evil sunzaguns anyway. ;-)

Comment by colinstu

Here's a macro a friend and I made.

#showtooltip Misdirection/tar focus/cast Misdirection/assist

Make sure to set a focus, and when your focus has a target selected, this macro will:Cast MD on the focus and select the focus's target. So much nicer then clicking on MD, then clicking on the focus, and then clicking on the target.

If there is no target selected, the focus will be selected. If there is no focus, this button will act just like casting/selecting MD normally.

It'd be awesome if MD or Hunter's Mark was off GCD, 'cause then I'd throw that spell in there too, but this is awesome enough heh.

As to how to use this spell? Well once it's cast, if you got a pack of trash, go Multishot, then do some of your powerful shots afterwards (arcane, chimera, explosive)... that will put a decent chunk of threat on the tank. Or, if there is a lot of trash, MD and then volley (and throw in an Explosive trap at the beginning if you are close enough).

Comment by gmbase

Comment by Farigiss

That macro can be condensed into:/cast Misdirectionwhich automatically puts it on the focus, without switching target to the focus

Comment by Cialbi

It's their bad - you can't learn it at lvl 67, only at lvl 70 or higher.

Comment by Cialbi

Pick an attack that generates a lot of threat; I tend to use multishot or aimed shot.Practice with your pet - it won't label you as a huntard on some forum and put you on its ignore list ;) Use this to pull a mob in an instance only if a tank asks you to, otherwise cast it and start shooting after the tank does the pull. In the latter scenario, you don't have to wait for the tank to get sufficient aggro - you help build up aggro instead by shooting early. Also, an addon that announces when you use MD is quite courteous, and some will display how much threat you generated. I've had to explain everything about how I'm using MD and how the addon works to at least one pug, though.

Too many new hunters such as me delay using MD because they don't understand it very well. Hope this helps. My suggestions may easily make some prickly tanks unhappy, so clear communication is key to successful MD. It's a bit daunting, but you'll love it.

Comment by Cialbi

If the tank's bad even with MD, don't waste feign death as an aggro dump.

EDIT: Wait...A rogue asking for hunters to be buffed? Thanks!Way to downrate and purge such a kind gesture...

Comment by Cialbi

DO NOT use Distraction Shot anymore with MD.It now forces the target to attack you.

Comment by Scruttok

Another thing that's recently changed with Misdirection, and can cause confusion and even arguments with those unaware, is that Misdirection no longer puts a buff on the Misdirectee.

The hunter gets the buff and the recipient of Misdirection will not see anything other than the threat.

So if you are required to Misdirect and people start panicing that you've screwed it up because they're not seeing the buff on the tank, you may need to explain to them why.

Also, the easiest method I have found for using Misdirection is a simple mouseover macro.

/cast Misdirection

With the tank set as focus it's simple to just hover the mouse over their little focus box and Misdirect to them, while retaining the flexibility to Misdirect to another if need be (if it's a fight where tanks are switching from time to time for example).

Comment by yanara

not anymore. Like tricks the buff shows only on the hunter (rogue).

Comment by Onijitsu

One of the hunters in our guild played a trick in ICC the other night... Redirected to the Priest. ;-)

(The Priest didn't know he could click on the "buff" to make it go away)

Once in awhile, we dink around, just to see just how badly and comically we can wipe each other. (Hey, it can't ALL be seriousness, all the time, right?)

Comment by Scarecrow13

These macros were a bit confusing to me since I don't use the focus much unless its an escort quest. This is because blizzard now made a focus frame. So I use this:

Squirtlè happens to be my pets name, i replace that with the name of the tank at the beginning of instances.

What it does is uses misdirection on the specified target and you keep your current target also.

Comment by trestar

Misdirection removed 1 charge for each dot hit made by the black arrow and serpent sting before patch 3.3, now it misdirect all damage made during 4 seconds after the first damage has been dealt to the target(s).

Comment by Paegan

MD addon spam is annoying, and not at all necessary if you're doing it right.

Plus, it makes it hard to cast it on annoying healers or other group members without them noticing :P

Comment by AidanMclaren

You know, I'm not sure I like an ability that malicious players can use on others to cause anguish.

Comment by Iceleaf

Sadly misdirection no longer gives buff to target being misdirected.

"But why sadly?"Because now I cant stop people from ninjapulling stuff to me when I dont want to or what I dont want to.

Comment by Amrun

An especially hilarious counter for that random hunter who's MD chainpulling to get his Frosts in a random as fast as possible is to hit this macro as soon as he casts Misdirect.

/cancelaura Misdirection/s You spank it, you tank it.

Then sit there and taunt it off him when his health is almost gone. Or don't.

Comment by Salutifer

Quick question. Most of these (now rather old) comments suggest this spell has a set number of charges, yet (now) the tool tip says "All actions taken for 4 seconds."

Are there no longer charges to consume?

Comment by Winged

Correct. Originally it redirected the threat of the next 3 attacks to your target. It works similarly to Tricks of the Trade now: when you do an attack, it starts a 4 second timer, during which all threat you produce goes to whomever you misdirected.

Comment by killername

Feign Death.. your turn.

Comment by rbuffetta

Comment by koolyo

very nice macro, but instead of:/target (pet name)just put in:/target petthen it will work for all of your pets, no matter what their names are, and the macro itself didnt work if u just type in the pet's name

Comment by Mallefix

If anyone's wondering why this wasn't down rated, it was due to the fact that he said, "nubsauce." luuulz.

Comment by elitearthas

"Transferred threat is not permanent, and will fade after 30 sec."

Way to go Blizz, tanks are having enough TPS trouble as it is.

Rofl, another 'i downrate cuz i can' idiot out there...

Since ICC buff and in beta till now?, tanks are having issues with TPS. If you know/think differently do speak up mr 'i downrate cuz i can' idiot

Comment by Sykora

Will MD work if the first and only thing I do is lay an Explosive Decoy?

Comment by elitearthas

frankly most clothies should have the brains to 'get the aggro off' even if u do pull this off haha

Comment by elitearthas

Hunters rejoice! We now have a wonderful and reliable (cannot be resisted):Our new wonderful glyph of MD Charred Glyphjust hope our pets' aggro isnt too high seeing as there isnt any aggro dump for them (Cower only reduces dmg taken now)

Comment by wintercoat

Yeah, this is not a good thing...

With how close an off-tank keeps his threat level to the main tank, having the main tank suddenly lose several thousand threat is a bad thing...it can throw off the rhythm of the fight...

Even worse with tricks having the same loss of threat and a longer duration of transfer...

Comment by Rkane

How god damn far does this need to be blizzard? :/

First you make it 70, now it's 76...

I mean, it would be insanely useful at say level 15 when i actually NEED it to keep aggro on the tank, instead of level 76 when the tanks can just grab all the aoe threat in the world with no problems at all...

:/ sometimes I'm confused by blizzard...

Comment by Zesha

as of this patch, this ability is not available until lvl 76, the usage is still the same tho and if memory serves, if u take it on ur pet it will automaticly refresh

EDIT: the refresh only happends if you got the major glyph

Comment by maticoco

Today I noticed something interesting while raiding.Misdirect now lasts for only 20 seconds, not 30, so look out cause I know I used to misdirect so that combat would start like 5 seconds before it ran out.

Comment by karylb

I'm just wondering if MD works on the aggro caused from the traps I lay out using my trap launcher. Seems like they're not. I put MD on my tank, and then use my launcher to set out snake and ice traps and it doesn't seem like they're being redirected at all.

Comment by Borelia

How to use it: Simply target a mob you want killed, then hit the macro. The following will happen:

1) Your pet will attack the targetted mob2) You will cast Misdirection on your pet3) You will have the mob which you are trying to kill targeted.

Using this saves me a bit of hotkeys while soloing. If you want, you can insert the name of a tank for your 5 mans, instead of "pet".

Comment by adamjmac

What is the max range aggro will be transferred AFTER misdirect has been cast?

For example, I cast MD on the tank, then the tank runs far away, then I shoot something. Is there a risk the targets will immediately come after me?

Comment by Nate076

Funnest thing to do with this ability. While everyone is waiting around to take out that final BG boss, Misdirect on a teammate and then Feign Death. LMAO.

Comment by Brunpal

The mechanics behind misdirection changed in Cataclysm. Before Misdirection threat was a permanent transfer of threat. Now it's temporary and the transferred threat fades away over time. Same thing with Tricks of the Trade.Why is this change a big deal?

Most of the time it's not a big deal. But in the specific case where there is a Misdirection plus a tank swap PLUS another tank swap -back- to the first tank (aka a double tank swap) it ends up being a misdirection of doom. This is due to the Tank2 grabbing the threat of Tank1 plus the temporary threat of the hunter and making that threat permanent to Tank2. However Tank1 continues to have their threat decay because it was temporary hunter threat.

If Tank1 taunts back during this decay period then Tank1 gets Tank2's threat permanently BUT with a big catch! The catch is that as Tank1 is trying to generate aggro to stay above Tank2 while they are slowly losing 4 sec of a hunter's burst threat. Another way of thinking about it is if you use a Misdirect during a double tank swap it's just like misdirecting the wrong tank during a normal tank swap.

So if you know there's a double tank swap* within 30 seconds it's a bad idea to use misdirection on the tanks. You might be able to put it onto a non-tank target but the tanks don't want it. Same thing applies to Tricks of the Trade.

*Definition of a double tank swap: Situation where a tank purposely loses aggro and then that same tank regains aggro shortly after.

Comment by foopok

ok i need to ask, does MD works on human player ?

Comment by Borelia

It's a non-issue. If there is a tank swap, then by that time the two tanks have plenty of threat over anyone else, rendering the misdirect essentially useless: Yes, even when counting the damage increase from ToT.

The only time that this makes sense is during an aggro wipe. And if you're misdirecting during an aggro wipe without knowing specifically who you are doing it to in the first place, you shouldn't be playing a hunter.

EDIT: I'm thinking the above post is reference to Chimaeron, but I could be wrong.

Comment by Brunpal

If there is a tank swap, then by that time the two tanks have plenty of threat over anyone else, rendering the misdirect essentially useless

Yes, the two tanks have plenty of threat over anyone else EXCEPT EACH OTHER.

The tanks will skyrocket their threat past the rest of the raid as they use burst threat abilities when it's their turn. However they will still have very similar threat to each other. Any disparities in threat tend to get evened out as they taunt. So one tank ends up having about 90% or more of the other's threat at any given time.

Fast forward 30 seconds after that hunter cast misdirect. "Transferred threat is not permanent, and will fade after 30 sec." Now you have the burst threat of a hunter fading off the tank. If you are at 100% threat, and the next highest threat is at 90% (another tank) and you suddenly lose a huge chunk of threat then the other tank is going pull when he's not supposed to which is exceedingly bad on these types of fights. (Yes, Chimaeron but it's a very common mechanic used in every tier of content.) Two tanks swapping a single target back and forth generally have a good reason for doing so. Typically it's a very bad thing if the wrong tank pulls aggro... that's the reason for 2 tanks on 1 target. Even 1 second of the wrong tank with aggro often means a complete raid wipe.

While it's bad to misdirect/ tricks of the trade the tanks in these cases, the tanks should have a big threat lead over everyone who's not a tank. So it will be safe to ToT up a dps without fear of pulling aggro.

BTW it amuses me greatly that I was downranked on the Misdirect page and ranked up on the Tricks of the Trade page. Guess it says that rogues are smarter than huntards.

Comment by Brunpal

If there is a tank swap, then by that time the two tanks have plenty of threat over anyone else, rendering the misdirect essentially useless

Yes, the two tanks have plenty of threat over anyone else EXCEPT EACH OTHER.

The tanks will skyrocket their threat past the rest of the raid as they use burst threat abilities when it's their turn. However they will still have very similar threat to each other. Any disparities in threat tend to get evened out as they taunt. So one tank ends up having about 90% or more of the other's threat at any given time.

Fast forward 30 seconds after that hunter cast misdirect. "Transferred threat is not permanent, and will fade after 30 sec." Now you have the burst threat of a hunter fading off the tank. If you are at 100% threat, and the next highest threat is at 90% (another tank) and you suddenly lose a huge chunk of threat then the other tank is going pull when he's not supposed to which is exceedingly bad on these types of fights. (Yes, Chimaeron but it's a very common mechanic used in every tier of content.) Two tanks swapping a single target back and forth generally have a good reason for doing so. Typically it's a very bad thing if the wrong tank pulls aggro... that's the reason for 2 tanks on 1 target. Even 1 second of the wrong tank with aggro often means a complete raid wipe.

While it's bad to misdirect/ tricks of the trade the tanks in these cases, the tanks should have a big threat lead over everyone who's not a tank. So it will be safe to ToT up a dps without fear of pulling aggro.

BTW it amuses me greatly that I was downranked on the Misdirect page and ranked up on the Tricks of the Trade page. Guess it says that rogues are smarter than huntards.

Comment by Borelia

Regarding warriors, I completely agree. Snap-on threat is a much bigger issue than it is for the other tanks, though I have heard druids having similar, albeit not nearly as bad, issues, and with a

Let's dive into the topic a little more than, for arguments sake. A well-geared hunter can misdirect upwards of approximately 75K to a tank. Any semi-competent tank can pull at least 25K threat per second, but we'll back it off for this discussion to 25K per second, more than reasonable with raid buffs and vengeance stacks. Let's also assume that tank swaps happen every 30 seconds (the cooldown on misdirect). Therefore, after a 30 second time interval, the tank has ~750K threat, while the 'ghost' threat from misdirect is ~10% of that. The threat threshold for pulling off of the boss without using a taunt is 110% of the current tank's threat. So again, yes, unless there is a complete threat wipe (for example, Magmaw) then it is indeed a moot point.

Let's try not to start a flame war. This isn't 4chan, it's essentially a discussion board. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean that they are trolling you. The reason it probably was voted up on the rogue forum was because Tricks lasts twice as long as Misdirection, and is thus twice as potent regarding threat management (more so if you consider ramp-up time). If you know of a hunter who consistently and haphazardly misdirects whoever the current tank is during a tank swap fight, then he's a bad hunter anyway.

Comment by Borelia

Regarding warriors, I completely agree. Snap-on threat is a much bigger issue than it is for the other tanks, though I have heard druids having similar, albeit not nearly as bad, problems with threat.

Let's dive into the topic a little more then, for arguments sake. A well-geared hunter can misdirect upwards of approximately 75K to a tank. Any semi-competent tank can pull at least 30K threat per second in a raid depending on the fight, but we'll back it off for this discussion to 25K per second, more than reasonable with raid buffs and vengeance stacks. Let's also assume that tank swaps happen every 30 seconds (the cooldown on misdirect). Therefore, after a 30 second time interval, the tank has ~750K threat, while the 'ghost' threat from misdirect is ~10% of that. The threat threshold for pulling off of the boss without using a taunt is 110% of the current tank's threat. So again, yes, unless there is a complete threat wipe (for example, Magmaw) then it is indeed a moot point.

Let's try not to start a flame war. This isn't 4chan, it's essentially a discussion board. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean that they are trolling you. The reason it probably was voted up on the rogue forum was because Tricks lasts twice as long as Misdirection, and is thus twice as potent regarding threat management (more so if you consider ramp-up time). If you know of a hunter who consistently and haphazardly misdirects whoever the current tank is during a tank swap fight, then he's a bad hunter anyway.

EDIT: Personally, I am a little upset at the current situation regarding ToT vs Misdirection. Not only does Tricks last twice as long, but it has a damage increase modifier. Poor hunters got dumped by the side of the road. IMO they should at least make Hunter misdirection permanent, or give it some sort of buff; the idea of hunters transferring threat makes much more sense lore-wise to me than rogues doing it anyway.

Comment by Borelia

Regarding warriors, I completely agree. Snap-on threat is a much bigger issue than it is for the other tanks, though I have heard druids having similar, albeit not nearly as bad, problems with threat.

Let's dive into the topic a little more then, for arguments sake. A well-geared hunter can misdirect upwards of approximately 75K to a tank. Any semi-competent tank can pull at least 30K threat per second in a raid depending on the fight, but we'll back it off for this discussion to 25K per second, more than reasonable with raid buffs and vengeance stacks. Let's also assume that tank swaps happen every 30 seconds (the cooldown on misdirect). Therefore, after a 30 second time interval, the tank has ~750K threat, while the 'ghost' threat from misdirect is ~10% of that. The threat threshold for pulling off of the boss without using a taunt is 110% of the current tank's threat. So again, yes, unless there is a complete threat wipe (for example, Magmaw) then it is indeed a moot point.

Let's try not to start a flame war. This isn't 4chan, it's essentially a discussion board. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean that they are trolling you. The reason it probably was voted up on the rogue forum was because Tricks lasts twice as long as Misdirection, and is thus twice as potent regarding threat management (more so if you consider ramp-up time). If you know of a hunter who consistently and haphazardly misdirects whoever the current tank is during a tank swap fight, then he's a bad hunter anyway.

EDIT: Personally, I am a little upset at the current situation regarding ToT vs Misdirection. Not only does Tricks last twice as long, but it has a damage increase modifier. Poor hunters got dumped by the side of the road. IMO they should at least make Hunter misdirection permanent, or give it some sort of buff; the idea of hunters transferring threat makes much more sense lore-wise to me than rogues doing it anyway.

Comment by Zwolf2062

yay now hunters can wipe the group even easier

Comment by Hotice2104

Personally, I am a little upset at the current situation regarding ToT vs Misdirection. Not only does Tricks last twice as long, but it has a damage increase modifier. Poor hunters got dumped by the side of the road. IMO they should at least make Hunter misdirection permanent, or give it some sort of buff; the idea of hunters transferring threat makes much more sense lore-wise to me than rogues doing it anyway.

Just a reference note to the past. The concepts that are today misdirection and Tricks of the Trade were originally theory crafted by Rogues on the Rogue forums during classic era WoW with a great deal of time invested. There were a Very Great Many Rogues that were extremely upset to see Misdirection finally take shape in the form of a Hunter ability. (I'd love to link to the old forum posts but by this date they no longer exist as far as I can find).

As for 1 vs the other in functionality I think it is still much more practical and possible for a Hunter to MD pull from afar than a Rogue to TotT pull. Also with the Glyph of Misdirection your pet you can split your own threat on a given boss encounter to keep your own personal threat levels much lower than your typical DPS class (read: Chimaeron). Yes this costs your GCD's but you can maintain the uptime on this to the point you wish. Equally of note this costs you no Focus at all where as a Rogue without the Glyph do lose 15 energy.

As an aside to your lore comment: Ever had someone tap you on the wrong shoulder to make you look the wrong way before?

Comment by QQbangbang

does this ability usefull at pvp?

Comment by borbes

After some testing, it seems that the threat does NOT fade when cast on your pet.

Comment by Dinzaklek

I was being such a tool today. I was inviting random people in org to my group for no reason, MD'ing them and then aimed shotting gamon. I was rofling so hard...

Comment by dukenukemi

Man i love md in pvp just md allys off the cliff, to water etc.. :D

Comment by Serf

Really irritating that the threat fades off after awhile, now. Because it uses the same basic mechanics as Fade, that threat just pops right back onto the hunter at the end of those thirty seconds. Really dropped the ball here, Blizz.

Comment by SpareSimian

How it works: When you get in a group, target the tank and then right click the macro, this sets the tank as your MD target. When you want to MD the tank, left click the macro. If you don't have a focus target it will MD your pet, if you have a friendly player targeted it will MD to them instead of your pet.

Comment by Azavari

I know there are already a lot of macros on this page, but here's the one I use:

/target Pet/cast Misdirection/targetlasttarget

It automatically casts Misdirection on your pet. It changes target so fast you don't even notice.Works well for soloing, and I find it easier to use seeing as there's no modifiers because I have all of my bars set to shift/ctrl/alt+a number so those macros probably wouldn't work very well. You could also add /petattack at the end if you want to send your pet in to attack the target.

Comment by Gyrwym

A useful macro i found on wowwiki: #showtooltip/cast Misdirection

This will misdirect to your focus target, if that is friendly. If not, it will cast on a friendly selected target instead. If that doesn't exist either, it will misdirect on your pet. That way, the macro works as intended in any situation, without the need of pressing qualifier keys or choosing between different buttons.

Comment by syphynsays

Is anyone else having problems with Misdirection? It seems the ability is blurred out on my action bars and my macros are unusable or broken. Hoping I'm not the only one.

Comment by iameponine

Seems to be off the GCD with 5.04.

Comment by Whoisthiscook

How this practically works: You shoot someone in the back, point at the target you MD to and yell "IT WAS HIM!"

EDIT: Takes a darn long time to learn to do so..

Comment by Pzypro

Noob time: is there a way to cancel misdirection after you cast it...?

In one of the dungeons, I accidentally misdirected the healer instead of the tank while he was pulling. Upon realizing it, I just stood there for like 20 seconds not sure what to do because I didn't want to get the healer killed lol.

Comment by Qoko

As main rogue, learning Misdirection last night on my alt hunter was a godsend. If I have to give my say into comparing Misdirect & Tricks, I fairly think Misdirection is the more logical ability and the best in practice. In my opinion, they should give similar abilities to all non-hybrid dps (in what way they can implement it logically, is beyond that), and milder versions for hybrid classes whilst in dps spec.

Dps should not be punished for maximizing and therefore overthreating at the pull. Rogues should not be punished for upping other's dps, due sometimes screwing up our own rotation (if Tricks is on cooldown, it can grave us of more energy). Misdirection does all this exactly right, but well, for Hunters only.

I really hope they'll convert Tricks into a similar ability again, free and definitely not into tier bonuses anymore. And give mages and locks one too, at least.

Comment by jamongus

Here's an incredibly broken macro (or rather, a collection of macros) for any hunter with Glyph of Misdirection (which I personally recommend for any hunter either leveling up, soloing content, or has a pet that is tanking anything).

Since misdirection is off of the GCD, you can spam it whenever it is available and it wont interrupt your shots. Use these types of macros and watch as your threat for fights is damn near zero:#showtooltip Arcane Shot/cast Misdirection/cast Arcane Shot Simply change "Arcane Shot" to any other shot of your choice - explosive shot, chimera shot, serpent sting, black arrow, multi shot, etc. This does work for steady/cobra shot as well. The only ability this doesn't mesh well with is Barrage. Sometimes casting misdirection will cancel the channel as soon as it starts, although it doesn't happen unless you mash your keybind and the cooldown for Misdirection doesn't line up properly.